When Cixi received an ultimatum demanding that China surrender total control over all its military and financial affairs to foreigners, she defiantly stated before the entire Grand Council, " Now they Powers have started the aggression, and the extinction of our nation is imminent.

Some examples of these de facto rulers are Empress Dowager Cixi of China ( for son Tongzhi and nephew Guangxu Emperors ), Prince Alexander Menshikov ( for his former lover Empress Catherine I of Russia ), Grigori Rasputin through Tsarina Alexandra ( for Tsar Nicholas II of Russia ), Cardinal Richelieu of France ( for Louis XIII ), and Queen Marie Caroline of Naples and Sicily ( for her husband King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies ).

Cixi said: " I originally planned to bring you along with us.

While typically employed by commoners, the water pipe is known to have been preferred by Empress Dowager Cixi over snuff bottles or other methods of intake.

Returning to the Forbidden City after the withdrawal of the allied powers, Guangxu was known to have spent the next few years working in his isolated palace with watches and clocks, which had been a childhood fascination, some say in an effort to pass the time until the death of Empress Dowager Cixi.

China Daily quoted a historian, Dai Yi, who speculated that Cixi may have known of her imminent death and may have worried that Guangxu would continue his reforms after her death.

In practice, many Chinese Empress Dowagers, either as official regent for a sovereign who was still a minor in age or from the influence of position within family social ranks, wielded great power or is historically considered to have been the effective wielder of supreme power in China, as in the case of Empress Dowager Cixi, Regent of China considered de facto sovereign of China for 47 years during CE 1861-1908.

This was quite an unusual reaction for Empress Dowager Ci ' an, and the execution of An Dehai is said to have greatly displeased Empress Dowager Cixi.

Ci ' an and Cixi lived amicably together, appreciated each others qualities, and are said to have had a sincere affection for each other, which never weakened during the whole of their long association.

Ding Baozhen was believed to have been instigated by Yixin, and Cixi was very unhappy with Yixin.

There have been several usurptions of power by consort clans, the most notable being the Han Dynasty's Empress Dowager Lü (), the Tang Dynasty's Empress Wu (), and the Qing Dynasty's Empress Dowager Cixi ().

Zaifeng did not have the maneuvering talent nor the lust for power of the late Empress Dowager Cixi, and he proved often indecisive and probably unfit for this troubled period.

After it was destroyed by an Anglo-French expedition in 1860, the Empress Dowager Cixi diverted money from the Chinese Navy to have it rebuilt.

Instead, breaking the imperial convention that a new emperor must always be of a generation after that of the previous emperor, Cixi nominated her nephew and the imperial family agreed with her choice.

Emperor Guangxu, who had always been a puppet emperor dependent on Cixi, was put under house arrest in June 1898.

Thirty years after her death rumors would be spread that she had been poisoned by Empress Dowager Cixi.

This choice brought advantages to Cixi: Zaitian was her nephew ( Zaitian's mother was Cixi's younger sister Wanzhen ); Zaitian's father, Yixuan, had been a loyal supporter of Cixi ; Zaitian was still young so Cixi could continue ruling as regent.

In 1881, Empress Dowager Ci ' an died suddenly, and rumours had it that she had been poisoned by Cixi.

* Yuwen Yang, concubine of Zhenjin during the Yuan Dynasty whose ruthlessness has often been compared with Empress Dowager Cixi.

When the Eight-Nation Alliance's armies marched into Beijing, Cixi fled the capital only to accept peace terms by paying the foreign powers huge amounts of silver.

" It was at this point that Cixi began to blockade the legations with the Peking Field Force armies, which began the siege.

After the Boxer Rebellion and the invasion of Allied armies, external and internal pressures led Cixi to effect institutional changes of just the sort she had resisted and appoint reform-minded officials.

The Qing Court at the time was divided between progressives under the leadership of the Guangxu Emperor, and conservatives under the Empress Dowager Cixi, who had temporarily retreated to the Summer Palace as a place of " retirement ".

Tan Sitong reportedly had a talk with Yuan several days before the coup, asking Yuan to assist the Emperor against Cixi.

Even after Guangxu began formal rule, Empress Dowager Cixi continued to influence his decisions and actions, despite residing for a period of time at the Summer Palace, which she had ordered Guangxu's father to construct, with the official intention not to intervene in politics.

Although Empress Dowager Cixi never forced Guangxu to abdicate, and his era had in name continued until 1908, Guangxu lost all honours, respect, power, and privileges given to the emperor other than its name.

Following their victory in the Boxer Rebellion, the Eight-Nation Alliance occupied Beijing on 14 August and a Chinese declaration of war which the Guangxu Emperor opposed, but had no power to stop, the Guangxu Emperor fled with Empress Dowager Cixi to Xi ' an, dressed in civilian outfits.

The councillors, angry at the Emperor's actions and fearful of losing the political power they had, then turned to the Empress Dowager Cixi to remove the emperor from power.

Prof. Lei argues that this plot was the reason why Cixi, who had just returned from the Summer Palace on September 19, decided to put an end to the reforms with the September 21 Coup.

By contrast, Empress Cixi was virulently anti-foreign, but she had to accommodate Prince Gong because he was an influential political figure in the Qing court.

Cixi was also acutely aware of the tensions that had arisen as a result of the growing influence of regional Chinese leaders: from 1861 – 1890, almost half of the governors general were Chinese who had risen through military command.

Cixi thus had to cooperate with these regional leaders initially but her strong influence over these regional leaders continued to determine the success or failure of modernization efforts.

In time, even Li Hongzhang had to resort to allying with Prince Chun in order to win the favor of Cixi.

Cixi had little to say in her sons ' upbringing.

Although in theory she had precedence over Empress Dowager Cixi, Empress Dowager Ci ' an was in fact a self-effacing person and seldom intervened in politics, unlike Empress Dowager Cixi, who was the actual master of China.

As de facto ruler, Empress Dowager Ci ' an had to learn about politics, so she and Cixi studied history.

During the late 1870s, Empress Dowager Cixi became ill from liver complaints, so Empress Dowager Ci ' an had to rule on her own.

While officially condemning the movement, the Boxers had the unofficial support of the Empress Dowager Cixi.

Sterling Seagrave claimed in Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China that Chinese historical records showed that the Xianfeng Emperor had appointed the two empress dowagers ( Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Dowager Ci ' an ) as the Tongzhi Emperor's regents in accordance with imperial tradition.

After the Guangxu Emperor's Hundred Days ' Reform in 1898, however, Cixi decided that the reforms were too drastic, and plotted to restore her own regency through a coup d ' état.

The reforms, however, were not only too sudden for a China still under significant neo-Confucian influence and other elements of traditional culture, but also came into conflict with Cixi, who held real power.

Western governments, too, were in favour of the Guangxu Emperor as the pre-eminent authority figure in China, and refused to recognise Empress Dowager Cixi.

Cixi strongly opposed reforms at that time and along with her supporters, condemned the " Hundred Days ' Reform " as being too radical.